The use of bowls and drainers to retain, rinse and drain foods like pasta, fruits and vegetables is very common. Typically, a bowl is used to retain the food either before or after washing, and a drainer is used to drain the water from the food after the food has been washed. The steps required for washing the food usually are (1) pour water into the bowl containing the food, (2) clean the food in the bowl with the water, (3) transfer the food from the bowl to the drainer either by manually handling the food or by manually lifting the bowl and tilting it over the drainer to drop the food into the drainer, (4) allow the food to sit in the drainer until the water is drained out, and (5) transfer the food back into the bowl either by manually handling the food or by manually lifting the drainer and tilting it over the bowl to drop the food back into the bowl.
The use of a separate bowl and a separate drainer to retain and wash the food as described above is not ideal, it would be burdensome and time consuming for the user (the cook) to manually handle the food to transfer them from the bowl to the drainer and from the drainer back to the bowl, as discussed in steps (3) and (5) above, if the cook chooses the more convenient and time-efficient way of transferring the food from one of the bowl and drainer to the other by tilting the one containing the food over the other, he might spill some of the food being dropped into the drainer or bowl or, even worse, he might drop the bowl or drainer while lifting and tilting it.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a need for a food-cooking apparatus, which can be used for retaining and washing food in a convenient and easy way that is not prone to accidents. The present invention substantially fulfills this need.